Father of the Year
by alwaysmarauders
Summary: He only got to know his son for a year, but it was quite possibly the happiest year of his life.


_November_

'I'm pregnant,' Lily Potter said to her husband the moment he had stepped through the front door that evening. She had been waiting in the living room, pacing, since the moment she had found out.

James stopped, eyes wide. The keys that had moments ago unlocked the door, clattered to the ground. It was a look of shock that he wore, and while Lily didn't know this at the moment, it was the good kind of shock, like the kind you got when your mates threw you a surprise party, only far, far better.

Ignoring the still open door and the keys lying at his feet, a huge smile stretched across James' lips as he ran to sweep his wife up in his arms, spinning her around. He was the happiest man on earth.

'Lily, that's fantastic- amazing, god I'm speechless,' a grinning James rejoiced as he brought Lily back down, planting a kiss on her lips.

Lily however, pulled back a bit. She had had all this time to think, and she had to admit, this was not the exact reaction she had pictured. 'Aren't you… worried?'

James shook his head and gave Lily a confused look. 'Why would I be worried? This is the best news we've had in ages, with the war and everything else going on.' Lily frowned at the mention of the war, which didn't go unnoticed by James. 'What's wrong?' he inquired softly, his arms still loosely placed around her waist.

She looked up into his eyes briefly before letting her gaze fall to the ground. 'Exactly what you said, the war. It's - It's not safe to bring a child into this world, not now. I've been running it over in my head all day, and-' her voice broke, '- James, I'm scared.'

'Hey. Hey, look at me, Lils,' James said as his hand moved up to cup the side of Lily's face. 'Look at who we are. Think about all our friends who will love and protect this kid like it's their own. I won't let anything hurt you, or this baby. Everything's going to be alright.'

He kissed her, slowly and softly, and he could feel the smile as it appeared on her lips.

Once their lips parted, Lily was silent for a moment. Then, a light laugh escaped her lips. 'James Potter, father of the year,' she teased now that she was no longer feeling quite so worried. 'It's got a nice ring to it.'

James grinned, and with a wink he added: 'You're forgetting something. I'm also husband of the year.' With that, he closed the space between them once more and kissed her with a devilish smirk.

_January _

The soft ticking of the clock was all that could be heard in the bedroom of Lily and James Potter. Lily lay sound asleep, nestled on her side up against James, who was wide awake. He shifted so that his arm fell to rest around her waist, his hand rubbing circles on the ever growing bump that was their child.

Lily was only just over two months pregnant, but their child had been growing rapidly. While they didn't know the sex, James had a feeling deep down that it was going to be a boy, though, he wouldn't mind either way.

James had seen many parents talking to their unborn children, it was something Lily would do on occasion, but he'd never done it himself. Lily had told him just the other day that talking to it would make it get used to your voice, but for some reason, James was still reluctant. It wasn't for a fear of looking stupid or anything like that, but he knew that in a way this would be his first fatherly act. It might have been foolish, but that didn't stop James from fearing he would mess it up somehow.

Now though at - James craned his neck to check the clock - closing in on two in the morning, James felt as though it was something he needed to do.

'Hey - kid,' James whispered, for a lack of better word to call his future child. 'I'm your father, James.' God this was awful, James thought as he mentally came to the conclusion that he was right about messing it up. 'Look, I'm not good at this stuff. Your mom, she's the one who knows what to do, and what to say. I'm a bit of a pratt when it comes to it all, really.'

He was silent for a moment, mulling over what to say and wondering if it was even true that the kid could hear the sound of his voice. Maybe he was sleeping… Did fetuses sleep? James had no idea. 'Again, clueless,' he muttered, practically inaudible.

Again, he was silent, until, 'I bet you'll play Quidditch.' James smiled. 'I'm sure I passed on my Quidditch skills on to you, not to mention my good looks.' All of a sudden the awkwardness was gone and James was whispering tales of his best matches and telling stories of him and the marauders. Sure, he would tell the kid all of this again, and probably again after that, bet it felt great to tell even an unborn child his stories.

Sometime during his tales, Lily had awoken, and eyes still closed, she listened and smiled at her husband's words, knowing that despite his worries, he would make the perfect father.

_February_

'What does this mean, Albus?' bellowed James Potter. He only ever referred to his former headmaster by his first name in times of urgency.

'It means that your unborn child may be a target of Voldemort,' Dumbledore explained. His tone and exterior was calm, unlike James, but the twinkle in his eye had seemed to have gone out. 'Sybill's prophecy-'

'I don't care about some ruddy prophecy! The kid isn't even born yet. How could-'

'_-James_,' cautioned Lily from the chair she sat in. James had refused to sit, and was now pacing the room anxiously. 'Let him finish.' It was clear she was close to tears, but she wanted to hear it all, wanted to know for sure…

Dumbledore gave her a nod of appreciation before continuing, 'The prophecy told of a child to be born at the end of July, when the seventh month dies. This child would have the abilities to vanquish the dark lord, its parents having defied the dark lord on three times-' James and Lily both tensed at this. 'Neither Voldemort, or this child can live while the other survives.'

James was furious. It all added up, but he didn't want to believe a word of it. 'No, no- It can't be right,' he kept muttering until he felt a warm hand slip into his. During James' fit of denial Lily too had had a strong reaction. James looked up his wifes tear stained face and pulled her tightly against his chest.

'What can we do?' he asked Dumbledore who had respectively turned his eye to give the pair some privacy.

'You can lay low. Voldemort does not know yet, and once he does it will take him time to figure out who the prophecy could be referring to, or at least we hope it will. There are, however, two that the prophecy could lead to. Your family, and the Longbottoms.'

James hung his head at this. The Longbottoms were good people, he wouldn't wish something like this upon them even if it meant that his family would be safe, but in the end, it had to be one of them.

'Of course, there are many things we cannot know now. If things take a turn for the worse, you will go into hiding,' Dumbledore finished. 'The best we can do is hope.'

James had no response, nothing he could possibly say after all of this, and neither did Lily who was holding on to her husband tightly. James' hand moved to the back of Lily's head, gently rubbing his thumb in circles. They would get through this. Together. They had to.

_July_

'I should be in there with her, not out here,' James said as he tapped his fingers nervously against his leg from where he sat in the St. Mungos waiting room.

'Prongs, you looked like you were going to faint. I think it's for the best,' said Sirius, the rather amused Godfather of James' soon to be child. Sirius had offered to help out and stay in the hospital during the birth, but James had not expected to be out in the waiting room with him.

After what seemed like hours the mediwitch came out to bring James in to see them. 'You can come in now.'

James practically bolted up from his chair and followed the women to where Lily lay resting in a bed. In her arms, swaddled up in a blue blanket was the most precious thing James had ever laid his eyes on. A mess of black hair and the side of a small face was all that could be seen from the angle Lily was holding the child, but everything about the picture was beautiful.

'He looks just like you,' Lily smiled, her eyes finding her husbands.

'He?' Slowly an amazed grin spread across James' lips as he moved closer to the pair. Lily moved to hold out the child as James outstretched his arms to grab him. 'He's perfect...'

Looking down at his son in his arms, James had never felt more complete. This, without him even knowing it, had been what he had been missing his whole life. '_Harry_' he whispered with a smile.

Harry. That was the name James and Lily had agreed on only weeks ago were it to be a boy. It suited him in more ways than James could have imagined. Looking at this boy, he couldn't imagine him with any other name.

'Harry James Potter,' said Lily. 'I thought it was only fitting to give him the middle name of the greatest man in his life, his father.'

_August_

Harry's cries seemed to shake through the house, and both Lily and James were shaken from what little sleep they seemed to get. Both groaned, it was the second time this night alone.

'Whose turn is it?' James muttered into his pillow.

'Yours.'

A loud groan was the only response James gave, causing Lily to shove him with her elbow. 'I got up last time. Now, go.' With that, she buried herself in the bed and blankets, leaving James to get up and face the harsh cold floor.

Tired, and with eyes half closed, James made his way to the room that belonged to Harry. 'M'comin,' he mumbled along the way.

When James reached his sons crib, he reached down and picked up the wailing child, rocking him back and forth in his arms.

'You know, you're cuter when you're quiet,' he grumbled at Harry, who's crying was beginning to seize. Harry did this once a night at least. Most of the time, when children cried it meant they wanted something, like a bottle, or their diaper changed, but not Harry. Sure, he cried for those things as well, but Lily and James soon found out that at least once a night he would cry simply because he was lonely and wanted to be held.

Still half asleep, James went and sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. 'It's times like this where I think the only good use you are is that you're living proof I had sex with Lily Evans.' He laughed a bit to himself; Lily always threatened to hex him when he called their child that. Some things never change.

It wasn't long before both father and son had drifted off to sleep in the chair.

_October_

'He looks like a Quidditch player,' James said as he and Sirius watched Harry play with some toys on the Potter's living room floor. 'Don't you think so?'

'He looks like a baby. I don't think you can tell this early on, Prongs,' Sirius laughed.

'That's not true, you can completely tell! He looks like me, so we know he'll be great at Quidditch.'

Sirius raised a brow. 'So you think he'll be just like you?'

'Of course!'

'So, in that case,' Sirius began listing things off his fingers, 'he'll be arrogant, lovesick, a git-'

'Oi!' James shouted, hurling a pillow at his best friend.

There was a moment of silence, and then: 'Do you think he'll be tall? I think he'll be tall.'

'Sure James, sure,' Sirius rolled his eyes. 'The kids just lucky he's got me.'

'Oh yeah, why's that?'

At that precise moment Harry laughed at something he did with the toys. James couldn't help but imagine it was him laughing at Sirius' words though, just as he had. He leaned down and picked up Harry, holding him on his lap as Sirius spoke.

'You know, I'll teach him all there is to know it life. It's what Godfathers do. I can teach him about girls, and all the secret passageways at Hogwarts, and when the best times of day to us them are.' Sirius was silent for a moment, a very rare occurrence, but then he broke into a large grin, 'You're giving him the map, right?'

James hadn't really thought of that, but now that Sirius brought it up he didn't know why on earth he hadn't thought of it before. 'Of course!' he exclaimed. 'I mean, it only seems right.' He could imagine it now. His son would get to have just as great a time as he had in school, and he'd have all of James' stories to lead him through it.

_February _

James sat on the floor of Harry's room staring intently at the muggle manual before him. Lily was out running errands and had left James to figure out how to put together the new crib Lily's parents had bought them. Harry had quickly outgrown the one they had bought originally, and after Lily mentioned it to her parents, they had sent one right over as a gift. The only problem was that it was probably the most complicated contraption James had ever laid eyes on.

He had tried simply using a spell, but since he himself had no idea how to put it together, the spell had backfired and the pieces had just started jamming themselves together in anyway that remotely fit. Now, he was back at square one.

Suddenly the paper was gone from his hand. He looked next to him to see Harry happily waving it in the air..

'Hey,' James said, taking the paper back. 'I need that.'

He had only been reading for a few more seconds when he felt Harry tugging on the paper once more.

'Harry, no,' He said pulling out of his sons reach, but Harry just started whimpering.

'Uhm, here, play with this.' He handed the boy the nearest thing without much thought to the matter. If he had been less focused on reading the instructions, he would have put more thought behind the fact that he had just given his seven month old son his wand.

James didn't notice anything wrong, and he was able to read the manual in peace. It wasn't until he had been reading for a few minutes or so that he realized things were too quiet.

Harry had crawled over to the corner of the room, and was now waving the wand around in his hand just as he had seen his father and mother do countless times before. Nothing seemed to be happening, which was a relief to James, but then after one big swoop, the shelves on the other side of the room came crashing to the ground with a large crunch.

Harry laughed and clapped his free hand against the floor. James' eyes grew wide. Well, atleast they knew there was magic in him.

He let out a sigh, it wasn't that bad, just as long as Lily…

'James Potter!'

...didn't find out.

'You let him use your wand! Do you know what he could have done? Honestly how can you be so stupid.' It seemed that Lily had gotten home from doing her errands and had come upstairs just as the accident had happened. She was now rushing over to Harry and scooping him up in her arms, checking him over for any injuries.

James gulped. 'In retrospect, it might have been a bad idea.'

_June_

'And you're sure we'll be safe here, Albus?' James asked as he, Dumbledore and Lily who had Harry in her arms stepped out of their new home in Godrics Hollow.

Lily had been treating it all like the move had simply been because their current place was now too small for their growing family, but James knew it was just hard for her to deal with the truth. James however could only think about the truth, and that their last place simply wasn't safe enough for them. Being in a strictly wizarding town like Godrics Hollow would give them a lot more protection, which they needed right now.

'Safer than you were before, yes,' Dumbledore replied sadly. It seemed that was the only way people talked to them lately, sadly. Everyone in the Order who knew they were the target of Voldemort always had that same damn mourning look on their faces whenever they were around them. James couldn't take it any more, he knew he could protect his son, and he would, no matter how doomed everyone else saw them as.

'Thank you, Albus, for finding this place for us. It means a lot,' Lily said. Dumbledore said his goodbyes and once he had disaperated, James heard a sniff from beside him and saw that Lily's eyes were filling with tears.

Wrapping an arm around her, and placing the other on Harry's back, he placed a kiss on the top of Lily's head. 'It's going to be alright. Everything will be alright.'

_July_

When Harry's birthday came around everything seemed to lighten up quite a bit. Laughter filled the air as he whizzed around on the toy broom Sirius had sent him. For the first time since coming here, things actually felt normal.

James was happy, and so was Lily, and even though they only had Bathilda to celebrate with, it was alright because somehow it was all still perfect.

'Dada!' Harry called as he zipped past James, only a few feet up in the air. He had said his first word only last week, and to add to James' never ending ego, it had been 'Dada'. He had been quite smug, much to Lily's annoyance.

'Woah there!' James yelled as he had to dive to grab the last ornament in the room. He and Lily had to take them down after Harry broke a rather ugly vase given to them by Lily's sister. James had found that hilarious and given Harry a sugar quill as a reward for that one.

With a thud, James collapsed onto the couch next to a chuckling Lily. As Harry flew past once again, James took the opportunity to grab him and pull him onto his lap.

'Happy Birthday, kid.'

In all this madness, holding his son brought James great comfort. Whenever he was worried or scared about what might happen, holding Harry would calm him down. It told him that he was okay and that he was safe. Because, at the end of the day, all that mattered was that Harry was safe.

_October_

James sat in the living room, a sleeping Harry in his arms, and for the first time in years, he cried. It was late, Lily was asleep and the whole house was silent, but he couldn't sleep, not now. Earlier that night they done it, cast the Fidelius charm on the house. Peter was their secret keeper. Sirius was supposed to do it, but he convinced them to use Peter instead. Voldemort was coming, he knew where they were, and now the only protection the had was the charm and Peter.

In theory, they should be safe. The only way anyone could get to him was if Peter blabbed, and he was one of James' closest friend, he would never do something like that. They even had Sirius checking in on him regularly to make sure he was alright in his safe house.

Still, James felt wary.

He had to protect them, he just didn't know how anymore. If it meant giving up his life, he would, he just wanted his family to be safe.

They hadn't left the house in a week. They had no idea what was going on, no idea how close Voldemort was. Any contact from any of their friends was risky, so it had been eliminated.

Why them? Why did it have to be his family that was in danger? It wasn't fair, wasn't right. Harry had his whole life ahead of him. He was only one for gods sake, what could a dark lord want with a one year old? Sure, the prophecy and all, but he was still only a baby. There was no way that the precious, small, helpless child in his arms could be a threat to anyone.

He stared down at his son in the silence for what seemed like hours, mulling it all over in his head, not wanting to believe that it could be one of the only few moments left with his son.

_October 31st…_

_Bang. Bang. Bang_

No, was all James could think as he heard the loud foreboding sound coming from the front door. The knocking, if you could even call it that, echoed through the house, and immediately James and Lily knew what it was. This was it.

'Take Harry, keep him safe!'' he said hastily to Lily as he ran out of the nursery, wand out and ready.

When he got to the front door, it was already being forced open. In came a man James had faced no less than three times before. He held out his wand, facing the monster straight-backed and strong. He would not go out like a coward. He would die fighting for his wife and son.

As James' spell left his lips, the green light from his enemy's wand and hit his chest. It was all he could see as he fell back and crashed against the bottom of the stairs. Everything was going dark, and as the last light left his vision he heard the screams of his wife as she tried to protect the child they had only had the chance to love for a year. And then, just like that, everything was gone.

* * *

An: I have a feeling this is going to be one of those stories that I'm constantly editing and re-uploading since I just can't seem to get it they exact way I want. I've been wanting to write sometime like this for awhile, and since my prompt for Camp Potter II (Archery- Week 1) was to write about a father and his child, it seemed like the perfect chance to actually get it done.


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